Chickens, swans, cats and Disneyland - bird flu really gets around!

French trade unions have accused Disneyland in Paris of covering up the death of a swan in the midst of the escalating panic in Europe over bird flu.

The two unions, the French Democratic Workers Confederation and Workers' Force, say managers concealed the discovery to avoid scaring off visitors.

The allegations have been hotly denied by the resort, which attracts 12 million visitors a year.

According to a spokesman the only birds found dead on the site were a sparrow and pigeon, which had died of natural causes.

The unions, say staff had seen a dead swan in the adventure park and the allegation, which remain unsubstantiated, has received wide media coverage.

Disneyland is accusing the unions of concocting the swan story in order to put pressure on management during wage negotiations.

The dispute comes amid what many experts are calling 'an avian flu psychosis' following the arrival of the potentially deadly H5N1 virus.

French state services have been called upon to deal with a range of demands, many quite silly.

Meanwhile the recent confirmation of two new cases of bird flu in cats on the German Baltic Sea Island of Rugen has provoked fresh concerns from animal welfare societies.

It seems hundreds of cats have been abandoned in France and Germany over the past two weeks and in Marseilles riot police were forced to seal off an industrial estate where a dead swan with the H5N1 virus was found last weekend.

Pet owners in the vicinity have been told to keep cats indoors and dogs on a lead, and many are trying to get rid of domestic chickens.

In the Netherlands authorities have postponed for a week, a vaccination campaign against bird flu in order to give farmers and vets more time to prepare.

The Dutch plan to vaccinate as many as 3 million backyard poultry and about 5 million free range poultry against the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, but are concerned that countries may ban their poultry when it is vaccinated.

The Netherlands is Europe's second biggest poultry producer after France.

The Dutch poultry farmers organisation says it is not clear yet how many farmers would reject vaccination because of trade concerns.